Hot Topics:

Hungary sets up disputed 1944 memorial

The Associated Press

Updated:
07/20/2014 08:27:06 AM EDT

Click photo to enlarge

The new monument dedicated to the victims of the German occupation of Hungary during WW II is seen at Szabadsag (Liberty) square in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, July 20, 2014. In the middle of the night and guarded by police, workers have set up the main elements of the disputed memorial to the 1944 occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany. The memorial meant to commemorate all victims of the German invasion, which also resulted in the deportation of over 430,000 Hungarian Jews to death camps like Auschwitz, has been widely criticized by Jewish groups and others, mainly because it is seen as an effort to downplay Hungarians? role in the Holocaust. (AP Photo/MTI, Noemi Bruzak)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Workers in Budapest have completed the main elements of a disputed memorial to the 1944 occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany, working in the middle of the night and guarded by police.

The memorial has been widely criticized by Jewish groups and others who see it as an attempt by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government effort to downplay the Hungarian role in the Holocaust. They object to the depiction of Hungary as a victim of the Nazis given that it was a wartime ally of Germany. The government stresses that both Jews and non-Jews suffered during the war.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, workers began adding the figures of Germany's imperial eagle swooping down on the archangel Gabriel, which symbolizes Hungary, to the monument, which has stood for several weeks.